The conversation took place amid the flight readiness review for the Artemis 2 mission, which is currently set to launch no earlier than April 1, 2026, pending work being completed in the Vehicle Assembly Building.
NASA announced Monday it will order at least six reusable Orion crew capsules from Lockheed Martin for $4.6 billion to fly astronauts to the vicinity of the moon in the 2020s, and the agency said it plans to purchase hardware for up to 12 Orion vehicles by 2030.